Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Doing a good deed

Quinn and I headed to the post office this morning to pick up a certified package. We stood in a 30 minute line, very patiently waiting our turn. The postal employee who helped us, helps us pretty regularly. I don't know his name, but we've had some good short conversations and are on good face recognition terms.

As we approached the counter and exchanged hello's he asked me to give him just a minute. He had a package that had been left by a customer a few people in front of me, but hadn't been paid for. As he was standing there, trying to figure out what to do, I said "I"ll just pay for it."

He looked at me dumbfounded, like he didn't hear what I had said, so I said it again, "I'll just pay for it. It's Christmas, I'm sure whatever is inside is important."

He still looked at me a little goofy and said, "Really? You'll pay for someone else's package? Are you sure? It's ten dollars, are you sure?"

I told him yes, again, that it really wasn't that big of a deal so he rang me up. As I was paying, he said, "That really is nice of you but that person will never know you did it." Like he thinks you should only do nice things for people if they see you. I told him it was all the better that it was anonymous and hopefully I'll have some good karma headed my way. It's one of those pay it forward experiences - I didn't pay for the food or coffee for the person behind me at the drive through, but the least I could do was help someone out with shipping a Christmas gift.

'Tis the season, I guess. Hopefully whomever is the recipient of that package really enjoys it this holiday season.